HATMAKERS AT VARIANCE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2676, 4 December 1909, Page 5

HATMAKERS AT VARIANCE.

A LIBEL CASE

ITkI! Press Association.! WELLINGTON, Dec. 3. At the Supreme Court, before H:s Honor Mr. Justice Chapman, George Lincoln Cole claimed £5Ol for damages which he had sustained through an alleged slanderous statement made by the defendant, Stephen Peter Hoy ns. Mr C. P. Skerrett, Iv.C., with him Mr. D Jackson, appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. T. M. Wilford, instructed by Mr. F. E. Petherick, for the defendant. The case for the plaintiff, as stated by Mr. Skerrett, was that Cole was a hat- and cap manufacturer in a small way of business. The defendant. Hoy ns, was engaged in the same line of business. Cole had a staff of young women, who had been trained to the trade as hat-making machinists. In July the defendant Heyns arrived in New Zealand from South Africa, and was desirous of investing his monev in some business such a$ that which plaintiff carried on. Plaintiff and defendant were brought together by the manager of the Bank of Australasia, who happened to he the banker for both parties, and a proposal was agreed to that Herns should take a share in Cole’s business. Hevns was given an opportunity of inspecting Cole's books and balance-sheets, but later on the negotiations fell through, for Heyns offered £4CO and Cole demanded £<o In July Ileyns told Cole that be had started in business as a corset manufacturer, but he did not make any reference to the waking of hats and caps. Cole paid a business visit to the West Coast, and before leaving gave hi.s employees four days’ leave of absence from work, mainly because work was slack. When lie returned to Wellington he found that two of his best workwomen had left him, and that his business was at a standstill, so that he could not carry out- the contracts he had secured while on the Coast. Counsel for plaintiff stated that shortly after Colo left to visit the Coast these young women were engaged by the defendant, who had added a cap and hat-making branch to his corsetmaking business. Plaintiff’s allegation was that defendant induced these girls to enter his (Heyns’) service because Heyns told them he had gone through Cole’s hooks at the time when there were going on negotiations for the purchase of a share in Cole's business by Heyns. and that there was no doubt that Cole could not last- in business more than three months. In consequence of that statement the young women left- the employment- of Cole and entered that of Heyns. _ The defendant urged that plamtm had not been damaged nor injured in liis credit or reputation, nor that lie had. been retarded in the carrying out of liis contracts made on the V est Coast- ; furthermore the defendant denied that he had uttered the words complained of and if there had been any publication of these words, the occasion was a .privileged one, and there was no malic© exhibited or meant. The defendant’s evidence was to the effectthat he had never made any definite offer for a share in Cole’s business. He had not- offered £4OO for that snare, and had never used any words refiectin«■ on Cole, and he added that one of the girls told him she was idle, tharCole was in a bad way financially, and that she had been “put off” because there was no work doing. A considerable amount ot evidence was taken. After counsels’ addresses, His Honor summed up, the evidence, and the jury having deliberated for about three-ou aiders of an hour, brought book 1 vordici for pta**!* £75. Judgment- was entered accordingly, with costs on the lowest scaie.